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Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1980 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

"I would probably have to go with the first one because it shaped my view of cinema as a kid, and as pure entertainment has a real place in cinema. It is one of the most seismic and significant events in recent cinema history — some might say detrimental — but it certainly led to a culture of whiz-bang cinema which we see now, but it meant so much to me as a kid, and Empire is the best of the first three. It also had that slightly weird edgy bleak sheer sort of joy of the first; suddenly everything went to s*** in the most spectacular way and it was kind of cool. I remember coming away from it so thrilled that they all got really beaten up. It’s widely regarded as the best of the three and it would be too obvious to say Star Wars."

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    My First Dog.

    My First Dog.

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    Meet the cutest dogs of the Smartphone games history! From now on, Playbean gives you the cutest...

The Northman (2022)
The Northman (2022)
2022 | History, Thriller
10
7.9 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Robert Eggers continues his winning streak with The Northman, surely one of the most visually stunning and compelling movies in recent years. A Viking revenge story presented in his signature style is just cinematic crack waiting to happen as far as I'm concerned.
The first third is a fast moving setup that effectively establishes the characters and shows off quite an epic production. After that, The Northman becomes a tight and slow burning thriller as Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) exacts a psychologically torturous revenge on the people who killer his father. It's a perfect marriage of powerful character drama, weird imagery, Viking culture and beliefs, bizarre gore, and fantasy set pieces, and it's slower pace ensures that it's utterly captivating.
The whole film looks incredible from start to finish and is complimented by a wonderful music score.
It's all cemented by a stacked cast. Skarsgård is a capable lead for sure, and is just a big walking muscle in this, the manly bastard. Anya Taylor-Joy is great as always, and the supporting cast boasts the likes of Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Ethan Hawke, and Claes Bang who are all stellar.

I can't heap enough praise on The Northman, another homerun from Eggers. I'd happily call it a masterpiece.
  
Knight and Day (2010)
Knight and Day (2010)
2010 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
You’d be forgiven for thinking that a spy film with the likes of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz could do no wrong, and indeed that’s the view I had, how wrong I was. Despite a fantastic performance from Diaz, Knight & Day falls well short.

There have been numerous comedy spy capers over the years, some of which have been fantastic, like Johnny English and Get Smart for example and others which have been less than stellar; Mr. & Mrs. Smith comes to mind. Unfortunately Knight & Day fits in between the good and the bad and comes out distinctly average.

Problems blight the film from the off stemming from wobbly CGI to ridiculous stunts and lazy direction choices, it seems like director James Mangold went into this project a little half-heartedly.

Tom Cruise plays spy Roy Miller and the film follows his adventures across the globe protecting the elusive ‘Zephyr’ battery which apparently never runs out of power. Needless to say Cameron Diaz plays the ditzy blonde who later becomes the love interest for the film. Whilst Diaz provides a fun and exciting performance, providing many of the movie’s best comedic moments, Cruise feels seriously miscast in a humorous role and he becomes tiresome to watch.

Alas, the issues don’t stop there. For an action film, it’s distinctly lacking in action and the set pieces that are there are lazily choreographed or rendered in shoddy CGI. Considering its less than modest budget (£120m), Knight & Day should’ve been a joy to watch, instead it’s like looking at a TV programme for 109 minutes.

Meanwhile the villains in the film are simply cardboard cut-outs as the writers haven’t given enough thought to fleshing out their characters. Cruise simply points and shoots and bang, they’re dead.

However, all of these problems could’ve been forgiven if the film had some great storytelling – it doesn’t. What should’ve been the best parts of the film are blacked out. The escapes, the fighting and even some of the ending are lost as Mangold decides to get around inexplicable plot events by drugging the main characters. Again, this is a lazy technique which doesn’t work.

It’s a shame, as there are many reasons why this film should’ve been at least a good summer action flick. In reality, Knight & Day simply becomes passable at best with some inexcusably lazy direction choices, dreadful CGI, bad casting and flimsy characters which all add up to a film which is left hanging on the merits of Cameron Diaz.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2011/09/13/knight-day-2011/